C

Cisco

Makes networking gear and security software

Principal Corporate Counsel

Full-Time
No salary listed
Expert
Eschborn, Germany+1 moreMore locations: Garching, Germany
In PersonWork from either the Eschborn (Frankfurt) or Garching (Munich) location.
LegalLegal Counsel & Legal Support

About the job

Requirements
  • Have at least 5 years of commercial and corporate experience obtained at a top law firm or multinational legal department.
  • Have excellent written and verbal skills in English and German.
  • Have supported complex commercial contract negotiations for large enterprises and public or state-run entities.
  • Have extensive knowledge of technology contract matters, including intellectual property, software licensing, managed services, cloud and software-as-a-service agreements, data protection and security, and possibly artificial intelligence.
  • Possess seasoned judgment to advise on regulatory and compliance matters in the context of a multinational corporation's operations.
  • Have a track record of driving change efficiently and leading key projects that make a durable impact in the legal department.
Responsibilities
  • Negotiate legal agreements for complex deals with major Enterprise and Public Sector customers in Germany and Switzerland, in line with Cisco’s business strategy, policies and practices, using either Cisco or customer templates, including product sales and software licensing agreements and service agreements adapted to local laws.
  • Negotiate agreements and provide guidance on data and security-related topics in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
  • Consistently apply Cisco legal and business policies and practices to maintain high standards of corporate governance on compliance and address COBC or compliance questions.
  • Serve as a business partner and advisor to the Sales business or segment lead, Finance, and Government Affairs.
  • Engage in cross-functional projects as a legal subject-matter expert.
  • Develop and deliver presentations and legal trainings on compliance and regulatory topics for the Sales team and local management.
Desired Qualifications
  • Fluency in French or other European languages.
  • Possess exceptional drafting skills and a keen eye for detail.
  • Be prepared to support and help finalize dynamic, complex sales agreements under tight deadlines and demanding processes.
  • Demonstrate a dedicated, flexible, and proactive approach, guided by sound judgment.
  • Demonstrate leadership and take ownership of work.
  • Build strong relationships with business clients and global colleagues.
  • Communicate ideas clearly and persuasively, both in writing and verbally.
  • Bring strong organizational skills to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
  • Use digital tools and communication systems efficiently in highly automated environments.

About the company

Cisco makes the switches and routers that connect offices, data centers, and cloud services, and it also sells cybersecurity tools and Webex video meetings to businesses and governments. It was one of the first companies to sell routers that let different kinds of computer networks exchange data, and in 2000 it briefly became the world's most valuable company. Customers run its network gear, from Wi-Fi access points to AI data center systems, with Cisco software that sets up and secures the network, while its Splunk unit searches computer logs to catch outages and attacks. Cisco earns money from hardware sales, software subscriptions, and support contracts. It was founded in 1984 and is based in San Jose, California.

Company Size

10,001+

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

San Jose, CA

Founded

1984

Get referred to Cisco

See people who can refer or advise you

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Cloud giants fuel growth: they ordered $9.3 billion of Cisco's AI gear in the year to July 2026, up 4.5-fold.
  • Stock awards gained value: Cisco shares rose 63% in the year to October 2026, four times the S&P 500's 15%.
  • Signed deals steady the business: Cisco had $46.7 billion of contracted sales still to deliver in July 2026, up 7%.

What critics are saying

  • Record sales didn't stop layoffs: Cisco cut nearly 4,000 jobs, just under 5% of staff, in May 2026.
  • Rivals lead in data center switches: in the June 2026 quarter, Nvidia held 20.4%, Arista 18.7% and Cisco 18.2%.
  • Hardware-heavy AI growth squeezes profit: Cisco's gross margin fell to 66.3% from 68.4% in the July 2026 quarter.

What makes Cisco unique

  • Cisco still sells the most network switches: it took 28.7% of worldwide switch sales in the June 2026 quarter.
  • Cisco designs its own networking chips: Microsoft and Alibaba signed on early for its Silicon One P200, launched October 2025.
  • Cisco trains future network engineers: its Networking Academy has taught over 28 million learners in 195 countries since 1997.

Help us improve and share your feedback! Did you find this helpful?

Benefits

  • Paid Vacation
  • Hybrid Work Options
  • Flexible Work Hours
  • Professional Development Budget

Growth & Insights and Company News

6 month growth

-1%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

0%
Bloomberg Law
Oct 28th, 2026
FuriosaAI quadruples valuation to $2.9B with $620M Series D as it takes on Nvidia

South Korean AI chip startup FuriosaAI has quadrupled its valuation to $2.9 billion after a new funding round, as it seeks to challenge Nvidia. The Seoul-based company said on Thursday it raised $620 million in a Series D round. US-based Infinitum Partners was among the investors. South Korea's National Growth Fund contributed $280 million, and international investors added $110 million. Backers also include Jericho Capital, Worldline Capital, Singapore's QUDA Capital, and Abu Dhabi-based NeoFort Holding. Investors are looking for alternatives to Nvidia chips, which dominate AI data centres, and want more energy-efficient silicon.

The Register
Oct 28th, 2026
Cisco open sources Project Quarry to catch rogue AI agents before the next Hugging Face-style hack

Cisco has open sourced Project Quarry, a behaviour detection engine that monitors AI agents to help security teams stop rogue agents, like those in the Hugging Face hack. Quarry aims to give security teams a "shared language" for judging agent behaviour, much as Snort did for network traffic and YARA for malware. It analyses an entire agent session rather than single actions. One tool call may look harmless until the next step sends data to an attacker's server. Rules resemble Snort or YARA rules. The GitHub repository includes plugins for Claude Code, Codex and other MCP-compatible agents, plus a starter rule pack. Cisco says rules do not replace human oversight, but they help teams share patterns to review and test.

Yahoo Finance
Oct 27th, 2026
IBM, Digital Realty and Cisco offer AI growth with dividend yields of up to 2.9%

Three tech companies offer dividends well above the S&P 500 average of 1.1% while benefiting from artificial intelligence (AI) demand, according to The Motley Fool. IBM pays $6.76 per share yearly, a 2.7% yield, and has raised it for 31 straight years. It generated over $15 billion in free cash flow against $6.3 billion in dividends, though third-quarter revenue of $17 billion rose only 5%. Digital Realty Trust, a data centre operator, pays $4.88 per share, a 2.9% yield. Revenue in the first half of 2026 rose 29% to $1.9 billion. Cisco pays $1.68 per share, a 1.6% yield. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $17 billion rose 18%, and the stock is up nearly 50% over the past year.

Associated Press
Oct 26th, 2026
Presidio integrates Cisco IQ with Presidio Advisor for AI-powered lifecycle management

Presidio, a global digital services and AI solutions provider, has integrated Cisco IQ with its Presidio Advisor platform. The move combines Cisco's AI-powered operational intelligence with Presidio's multi-vendor approach to IT lifecycle management. It was announced on October 26, 2026. Using new Cisco IQ open APIs and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), Presidio Advisor pulls real-time Cisco telemetry, lifecycle milestones, and support data into its platform. This removes manual data extraction. Presidio Advisor merges customer, reseller, and manufacturer data into a single source of truth. Configurable business rules help organisations spot risk, anticipate renewals, forecast spend, and plan technology refreshes. "Our clients are not looking for another asset-management tool," said Kevin Corace, senior vice president, Software and Services Lifecycle, at Presidio. They want a unified view that turns data into action.

PR Newswire
Oct 20th, 2026
Splunk report: 55% of firms can't control AI costs as agents outpace monitoring

Cisco released its Splunk State of Observability 2026 report on October 20, 2026, finding that the rush to deploy AI agents is outpacing the ability to monitor them. The survey covered 2,050 IT operations and engineering professionals across 10 countries. Some 87% say monitoring AI is a priority, yet 56% cannot measure AI workload metrics such as large language model response quality. Also, 55% say they cannot control AI costs, and 60% say unexpected billing spikes strain operations more than high baseline costs. Security collaboration is growing: 81% say monitoring AI has increased cooperation between observability and security teams. Among leading organizations, 91% can accurately attribute AI costs, against 69% of non-leaders.